Background
He was born in Kadammanitta province of Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. Ramakrishnan was born to Meletharayil Raman Nair and Kuttiyamma.
He was born in Kadammanitta province of Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. Ramakrishnan was born to Meletharayil Raman Nair and Kuttiyamma.
He completed schooling at his home village of Kadammanitta and at the nearby town of Pathanamthitta.
His childhood experiences, especially the Patayani songs, had a strong influence on his literary work. He was influenced by the traditional religious art form of Patayani even from his childhood. After his degree studies, he went to Kolkata, and then reached Chennai.
He was employed with the Postal Audits and Accounts department in 1959.
He worked in Thiruvananthapuram from 1967 until his retirement in 1992. Ramakrishnan"s poem Njan was published in 1965 in M. Govindan"s Sameeksha magazine.
His first book was published by Kerala Kavitha Granthavari in 1976. There are more than 75 books to his cartulary-register
A profound influence in contemporary Malayalam literature, Kadammanitta had played a vital role in reviving interest in poetry by holding thousands of recital sessions in every nook and corner of Kerala in the 1970s and 80s.
His work has been widely appreciated for its force, energy and folk touch and gave a mass appeal and popularity making poetry enjoyable even to commonman. Ramakrishnan’s close association with literary and cultural luminaries, which included M. Govindan, Ayyappa Paniker, M. V. Devan, P. K. Balakrishnan O. North. V. Kurup, Kavalam Narayana Panicker,Doctorate.Vinayachandran, and K. V. Thampi, helped him in the endeavour to give a popular image to Malayalam poetry recital. He had recited his fiery works at thousands of venues all over the state, besides editing a poetry journal Kerala Kavitha that attempted to take the essence of poetry from the academic cloisters to the realms of everyday life.
A Communist, he was involved with the student federation as well as communist party during his college days.
In 1992 he became the vice president of Consumer price index-M"s cultural wing, Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham (Progressive Association for Art and Letters), and in 2002 its president In 1996, he was elected to Kerala state legislative assembly from Aranmula constituency in Pathanamthitta district.
Ramakrishnan died on 31 March 2008 in a private hospital in Pathanamthitta. He was undergoing treatment for myeloid leukaemia for the past three months.
